Biden stays above the pack 鈥� and aims fire at Trump
By skipping a big Iowa cattle call, and visiting the state on his own a few days later, the former VP stays a step ahead of the overcrowded field.
By skipping a big Iowa cattle call, and visiting the state on his own a few days later, the former VP stays a step ahead of the overcrowded field.
Dear reader:
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聽Former Vice President Joe Biden may be widely regarded by analysts and rivals as a 鈥渨eak鈥� frontrunner 鈥� but so far, he鈥檚 running a pretty savvy campaign.
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聽Over the weekend, Mr. Biden raised some eyebrows by opting to skip the Iowa Democratic Party鈥檚 Hall of Fame dinner in Cedar Rapids, and instead attend his granddaughter鈥檚 high school graduation. 鈥淛oe Biden must really not like to travel,鈥� jabbed Andrew Yang, one of Mr. Biden鈥檚 2020 rivals (who is currently polling around 1%).
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聽In hindsight, it looks like a brilliant move. Media coverage of the dinner 鈥� at which each candidate was given just five minutes to make their pitch to party activists 鈥撀爓as heavy on phrases like 鈥渃ircus 鈥� and 鈥渃lown car.鈥� 聽
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聽By contrast, when Mr. Biden traveled to Iowa yesterday 鈥� where President Donald Trump also happened to be making an appearance聽鈥撀爃e was given extensive cable news coverage, much of it positive ( a clip 聽from MSNBC鈥檚 Morning Joe contrasted Mr. Biden鈥檚 treatment of a protestor 鈥撀爄nviting him to have a private audience after the event 鈥� with President Trump鈥檚). And as the former vice president and the president traded barbs, it all worked to reinforce an image of Mr. Biden as in a category of his own, apart from the rest of the Democratic field. 聽
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聽Of course, he may still be a weak frontrunner. Polling shows that the Democrats backing Mr. Biden are less enthusiastic than other candidates鈥� supporters. His numbers have slipped some in Iowa. As Paul Waldman聽recently wrote 聽in The American Prospect, the 2020 race has a similar feel to 2004, when Democrats settled on the most 鈥渆lectable鈥� candidate 鈥� John Kerry 鈥撀爓ho didn鈥檛 spark much passion in the base, and who ultimately lost to President George W. Bush.
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聽On the other hand, a new聽Quinnipiac University poll 聽this week shows Mr. Biden beating President Trump in a head to head matchup by 13 points 鈥� a spread the pollster characterized as 鈥渓andslide proportions.鈥� The key group in that poll: independents,聽who broke for Mr. Biden over President Trump 58 to 28 percent.
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聽Who knows, maybe Mr. Biden should consider skipping the upcoming Democratic debates?
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聽Let us know what you鈥檙e thinking at聽csmpolitics@csmonitor.com.